Your Blogging Staff

Contributing to this blog:
- "Dave" is Dave Barry, who is a humor columnist and presidential contender.
- "judi" is Judi Smith, who is Dave's Research Department, as well as being interested in men.
- "Walter" is Walter, a bone from the penis of a walrus.

okay ignoring the rats for the moment: they banned 'social dancing'? WTFBBQ? i kept looking for a "the onion" logo on that page somewhere. again, i repeat WTFBBQ? can anyone explain to me how this even remotely makes sense?

i went back and re-read it and it says the ban applies to "bars, restaurants and certain clubs". which means (i guess) that it is permitted in some other clubs. so i suppose it has something to do with the size of the space, number of exits and whatnot. you know, trying to cut down on the number of charred corpses to clean up on monday morning.

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance
Dance!

We can go when we want to
The night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry
Say, we can act if want to
If we don't nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from wall to wall
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody takin' the cha-a-a-ance

well, you'd have to dance to avoid the rats... and we always called KFC Kentucky Fried Critters.... now we know what kinda critters they are. i guess the restaurant 'inspectors' missed one, nudge nudge, wink wink. what are there, 10,000 restaurants in nyc, and 2 inspectors?

Completely (not Mr.) OT - from several minutes ago on the NY Times website:

Powerful Storm Moves Eastward

Severe thunderstorms and the punishing weather conditions they create are expected later today over wide areas of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the National Weather Service reported, while blizzards sweep into Colorado and Nebraska.

“Damaging winds, very large hail and tornados are possible,” the agency said, as a powerful storm is expected to move eastward from California, across the Rocky Mountains to the high plains.

The storm is expected to mix with moisture moving up from the Gulf of Mexico to produce turbulence over south-central Kansas, western Oklahoma and northwest Texas during the evening hours.

The same system is expected to dump 5 to 10 inches of snow on eastern Colorado and northwest New Mexico today, where winter storm and blizzard watches have been posted.

“This is a potentially dangerous storm,” the service said, adding that highways and roads in the region will probably be closed and travel obstructed. Winds are expected to blow at 30 to 45 miles an hour, with gusts up to 60 miles an hour.

The falling and blowing snow is expected to reduce visibility to below one-quarter of a mile in the affected areas, the weather service said.

MTH: There are more reasonably priced eateries in the theater district than you'd think. Providing you define "reasonable" to be roughly the GNP of most South American dictatorships. I kid.

Try timeoutny.com for clues. For pizza (really good pizza, at that) and casual Italian fare, go to John's Pizza on 44th. It's in a former church and the interior still reflects that fact (no pews, though). There's a silly but fun pan-Asian joint on Broadway at around 49th or so) called Ollie's. It looks like a set from Indiana Jones. There is also a McCormick & Schmick seafood place on 49th (or so) and 6th Avenue. Good, reliable seafood in a klassy looking dark wood and frosted glass atmosphere. It's a chain (I've eaten at the ones in San Diego and Baltimore and, if I remember right, Seattle) but don't hold that against it. Very good crab cakes. Somebody told me that the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant is actually pretty good but I don't believe them.

That's all I got but, being a New Yorker and all, I rarely visit Times Square now that it's all hooker and sleaze-free.

AWBH: It's actually the proliferation of "Ray's" pizza ya gotta watch out for. There are at least two distinct outfits, "Famous" and "Original," and they both undercook the dough and use too much cheese. I've heard good things about Bronx pizza but never had the privilege. Almost worth the trip (it's a shlepp) is Grimaldi's in Brooklyn Heights.

Back On Topic (kinda) New New York motto: "Come for the Pizza, Stay for the Beaver!" (or vice-versa).

What's even more disgusting about the Taco Bell story is that I've actually eaten there -- only once, thankfully. It is gross, and right by NYU, so I guess any plans to take out university students hasn't worked so far.